For one city committee, it's been hard enough getting a quorum these days, not to mention changing the face of Stockton for future generations.

The city's Climate Action Plan Advisory Committee, formed after the city's 2008 legal settlement with the Sierra Club and then-Attorney General Jerry Brown, has floundered in recent months amid concern about the cost of the measures it is pursuing.

It's been months since the committee had a quorum so that it could take any official action.

John Beckman of the Building Industry Association of the Delta is not a member of the committee, but follows the process closely. He said he believes the $30 million cost of implementing the committee's draft Climate Action Plan is simply infeasible in a bankrupt city.

While environmentalists are still at the table, Beckman said he believes the committee is simply no longer a priority for some others.

"This is going to add a whole bunch of extra cost and expense on the city, and for private sector development," Beckman said. "It's brutal."

It's true that the movement has lost steam, said Sierra Club environmentalist Dale Stocking, a committee member. He says the city has failed to appoint new committee members in a timely way.

But Stocking argues that the years-long delay in finalizing a climate plan for City Council consideration has actually been a blessing.

It has provided a chance to meld the plan with other efforts underway, including amendments to the city's General Plan and discussions on ways to revitalize downtown.

"I'm disappointed that we have lost momentum," Stocking said.

"But we're coming up with a better product and the city of Stockton will be better as a result."

On paper, the committee's draft plan is indeed expensive, costing the city an estimated $30 million in one-time expenses and $270,000 a year thereafter. The plan seeks to reduce energy consumption, encourage alternative forms of transportation and shift development downtown through a wide range of measures.

Officials note that state and federal grants could lighten the cost, and add that the plan would be implemented only to the extent that money exists to do so.

Costs to the private sector have been estimated at between $67 million and $426 million, though energy savings could amount to tens of millions of dollars thereafter.

In a review, Berkeley-based consultant Economic & Planning Systems, Inc. found that the plan was designed to minimize the financial burden on businesses and residents, and that despite the price tag the impact on the city's ability to compete economically would be "very limited or insignificant."

There are benefits to be had through quality of life improvements and a revitalized downtown, consultant Benjamin Sigman told the committee on Thursday.

"You achieve a more vibrant city center - that's a great thing for the community, obviously," he said.

While the depleted committee's work has been slow-going in recent months, Stockton's new Community Development Director Steve Chase told members Thursday that new management in the is looking carefully at the draft plan. He said he sees that plan as a guide.

"We've got some great ideas on infill (development) in particular, on how to make use of the resources that already exist," he said. "We're about ready to bring some of that forward. Just be a little more patient."